


shall we get a byte to eat?

by kihyuks



Series: jooheon bingo (unique aus) [1]
Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Office, Confessions, Emails, Fluff, IT Department, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-13
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2020-03-02 18:36:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18816691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kihyuks/pseuds/kihyuks
Summary: jooheon works in the it department. minhyuk works in the sales department. minhyuk has a habit of breaking his computer and jooheon is always there to fix it.





	shall we get a byte to eat?

**Author's Note:**

> for the **it department** square.
> 
> i have the humour of a 15 year old boy stuck in 2014 and this fic shows it

> To: lee.jooheon@starshipcompany.com  
>  From: lee.minhyuk@starshipcompany.com
> 
> Subject: help
> 
> gd morning
> 
> pls send help i broke my computer
> 
> thank u  
>  -minhyuk

Jooheon rolls his eyes and laughs when he sees the email. It’s not an unusual email to receive, rather the opposite, but there’s something endearing about the way Minhyuk types his emails.

At first, they started off formal and proper, but as Jooheon and Minhyuk have interacted more, Minhyuk’s emails have become more and more informal. Jooheon wonders what Changkyun, being the person who monitors all of the company’s emails, thinks when he reads them.

Jooheon pushes his chair back from his desk and gets up, stretching out his back. He’s been sat down for far too long, so he’s glad Minhyuk’s given him an excuse to get up and walk around.

As he makes his way to the sales department, Jooheon thinks about his relationship with Minhyuk.

When Jooheon started to work at Starship Company, he never interacted with Minhyuk, being from different departments and all, but he knew of him, of course, because who _didn't_ know Lee Minhyuk? It wasn't until a few months in when he received an email from Minhyuk asking Jooheon for help fixing his computer that Jooheon spoke to Minhyuk for the first time.

They clicked instantly. It took Jooheon barely five minutes to 'fix' Minhyuk's computer (he'd changed the language to French somehow, so Jooheon just had to change it back, his barely there French skills from high school classes finally coming in handy), but they ended up talking for long after. They only stopped because Changkyun came looking for Jooheon, worried that he'd somehow got lost looking for the sales department.

From that day on, Jooheon started to fall for Minhyuk.

At first, it was slow, gradual.

Then, it hit him all at once, like the waves crashing in the sea.

He realised that he was absolutely, positively, utterly whipped for a man named Lee Minhyuk. And Jooheon didn't - and still doesn't - know if Minhyuk feels the same, but that's okay with him. As long as Minhyuk's in his life he's happy.

Jooheon's mind focuses back on the present when he bumps into someone. "Fuck, sorry, dude," he apologises.

Hyungwon looks back, unimpressed, a single eyebrow raised. "What's got you so distracted?"

"Your mum," Jooheon replies with all the class of a fifteen year old boy.

Hyungwon groans out loud, as if Jooheon's bad joke physically pains him, and walks away without even gracing Jooheon with a reply. How rude.

Minhyuk's waiting for Jooheon at his desk, looking like a kicked puppy. It's adorable, really.

"So, what did you do this time?" Jooheon asks. He looks at Minhyuk's computer, but he doesn't see anything immediately wrong with it.

Minhyuk, sheepishly, takes his mouse and opens his applications menu. "I needed to open Word but it's gone."

Strange. Jooheon's not sure how an entire application can just magically disappear like that, but Minhyuk always seems to have odd and mysterious things happen to his computer. This is only the third time this week Jooheon's been asked to come and help fix Minhyuk's computer, and it's only Tuesday.

"Can I take a look?"

Minhyuk nods, getting up from his chair to allow Jooheon to sit down in it instead. Jooheon takes the chair with a small 'thanks' and gets to work trying to figure out what the hell has gone on with Minhyuk's computer.

He scrolls down the applications page, double checking that it isn't there and Minhyuk just scrolled right past it, but it's definitely not there.

He opens up the files, intending to search for the missing application, when he notices that the recycle bin is Minhyuk's last opened folder and the Word app is sitting right there, staring at him in the face. It's suspicious. Why would Minhyuk have the recycle bin open and somehow manage to drag Word into it without realising?

Jooheon decides it's best to hold his tongue, and instead he drags Word back into the applications folder where it belongs. "There, all sorted," Jooheon says with a smile.

Minhyuk isn't looking at him. He's got his head bowed and he's fidgeting with a pen in his hands. "Thanks, Jooheon," he says quietly, barely above a whisper.

Jooheon furrows his brows. What's gotten into Minhyuk? He doesn't want to ask, though, afraid of making Minhyuk uncomfortable, but the atmosphere is awkward, tense.

Neither of them speak for a while. Jooheon stares at Minhyuk while Minhyuk stares at the floor. After an uncomfortable number of seconds, Jooheon finally speaks up. "Well, I should get going."

As he turns to leave, he's stopped by a hand on his wrist. He turns back, and Minhyuk is finally looking up at him, a blush adorned on his cheeks. He tilts his head, wondering why Minhyuk stopped him.

Minhyuk opens his mouth once, then closes it again. He clears his throat, then says, "Do you want to go to lunch with me?"

And now Jooheon is even more confused. "I mean, yes, of course. But we have lunch together everyday?"

"Yeah, I just— Yeah," he trails off. He pulls his hand away from Jooheon's wrist, his gaze returning to the floor.

"I'll see you at lunch, yeah?"

Minhyuk nods and Jooheon takes it as a sign he can leave.

He must have a look on his face, because when he sits down Changkyun is looking at him funny. "Did something happen?"

Jooheon shrugs. "Minhyuk's being weird. I don't know."

"Oh? How so?" Changkyun's leaning forward on his desk, his chin resting on his hands.

"You're so nosy," Jooheon says with a roll of his eyes. "He asked me to lunch, but we always go to lunch together."

Changkyun hums, and then this grin takes over his face that Jooheon really doesn't like the look of. "Maybe he was trying to ask you on a date, but chickened out."

And Jooheon's face turns the colour of a tomato almost immediately. Changkyun knows about his crush on Minhyuk, of course, having figured him out quite easily. “Shut up. That’s not what happened.”

“You never know, bro.”

Jooheon ignores Changkyun, stubbornly ignoring his seat neighbour and getting to doing some work on his computer. Changkyun’s just being dumb and has it wrong, right?

Right?

 

* * *

 

> To: lee.jooheon@starshipcompany.com  
>  From: lee.minhyuk@starshipcompany.com
> 
> Subject: will pay in photos of dogs
> 
> hi i did it again i will reward with photos of dogs if u save my computer nd my life thank u very much

Jooheon sighs. He must be doing it on purpose at this point. Only a day has gone by since the last time Jooheon ‘fixed’ Minhyuk’s computer. (He couldn’t see anything he typed on Word. The text was set to white.)

Jooheon wants to bring it up to Minhyuk, to ask him why he keeps doing all these strange things to his computer that can’t _all_ be mistakes, but doesn’t want Minhyuk to stop emailing, because it’s the primary source of his interactions with Minhyuk and Jooheon really doesn’t want them to stop.

Deciding it doesn’t matter whether Minhyuk’s doing it on purpose or not, Jooheon gets up to go to the sales department.

Before he can even take a step, Changkyun is calling out, “Going to see your boyfriend?”

Jooheon freezes, but recovers quickly. He ignores Changkyun, knowing he’s only looking for a reaction out of Jooheon, and walks off, head held high.

When he makes it to the sales department, he notices Minhyuk isn’t at his desk. He groans in annoyance. Why would Minhyuk ask Jooheon to come fix his computer, not even telling him what the issue is, and then disappear from his desk?

Jooheon doesn’t know anyone in the sales department very well, but he’s spoken to Hyunwoo, who sits next to Minhyuk, a few times, so he approaches him. “Hey,” Jooheon greets.

Hyunwoo looks up from his screen, a confused look on his face, but then realisation dawns on him when he sees Jooheon. “Hi, Jooheon. I don’t know where Minhyuk went, but he disappeared mumbling something about dogs under his breath.”

Jooheon is about to reply when there’s a squeak behind him. He whips around, finding Minhyuk standing there, a stack of papers held to his chest.

“You were quick,” he comments, holding the papers protectively to his chest.

Jooheon nods, eyes narrowed at Minhyuk’s suspicious stack of papers. “Yeah, I came right over. What are you hiding?” He gestures to the papers.

Minhyuk’s grip tightens. “Nothing.” He looks pointedly at his computer. “Can you help me?”

Jooheon decides to accept the change of subject and nods. He slides into Minhyuk’s chair. “What’s the problem?”

“My sound stopped working.”

Jooheon puts on the headphones and tests it out and he’s right — it isn’t working at all.

Jooheon’s first thought is to check if he’s accidentally muted the volume on the computer, but it’s up all the way, so that can’t be it.

He can’t find anything in the settings either that would explain why the sound won’t work anymore.

Jooheon fiddles around for a while, trying to find a possible solution, but he realises he might have to admit defeat for the first time since he started fixing Minhyuk’s computer.

He slips the headphones off, putting them down on the desk. He spins around in the chair to tell Minhyuk he can’t help, but catches his elbow on the headphones, sending them tumbling to the floor, along with the wire. That wasn’t plugged in.

Jooheon stares at Minhyuk, who stares back, and picks up the headphones, plugging them back into the computer without breaking eye contact. “I fixed your computer.”

Minhyuk smiles and holds out the stack of paper he’s been holding protectively to his chest the entire time. “Thank you, Jooheony. Here’s your reward.”

Jooheon takes the papers cautiously. He looks down at them and sees the top paper is a photo of a dog. He checks the next one and it’s the same. The whole stack of papers is printed photos of dogs. “Minhyuk. Why did you give me this?”

“I said it in the email, dummy. You fix my computer, I provide dog photos.”

And, well, he’s not wrong. He did mention dog photos in the email.

Jooheon stands up, smiling thankfully at Minhyuk for the photos. “Well, thank you. I gotta get back to work.”

“See you later!”

Jooheon returns to the IT department with his new collection of dog photos in his hands.

“Whatcha got there?” Changkyun asks upon Jooheon’s return, gesturing to said collection of papers.

“Photos of dogs.”

Changkyun stares blankly. “What is it really?”

Jooheon turns the stack of papers around so Changkyun can see that it is, in fact, photos of dogs. “Minhyuk gave me them for fixing his computer.”

“He printed out photos of dogs? Kihyun would kill him if he knew he used that much ink.”

And, well, he’s not wrong. Kihyun, their boss, definitely wouldn’t be happy to know someone had used up so much ink on something unrelated to the company, but as far as Jooheon knows Minhyuk and Kihyun are actually friends. He’s never spoken to Kihyun other than in the context of him being the boss, but in conversations he’s had with Minhyuk he’s heard about their friendship. So, maybe Kihyun would let Minhyuk off if he knew.

Jooheon isn’t really sure what to do with the stack of photos Minhyuk has given him. He doesn’t want to throw them out, so he shoves them into his bag, deciding he can just deal with them at home.

And with that, he finally gets back to doing his job.

 

* * *

 

> To: lee.jooheon@starshipcompany.com  
>  From: lee.minhyuk@starshipcompany.com
> 
> Subject: (>_<)
> 
> hi
> 
> u can guess what this is abt
> 
> lvoe u thank u always

The email is expected, of course. It’s been a few too many days without Minhyuk asking for Jooheon to fix his computer and so Jooheon knew the email was bound to come soon.

He shuts off his computer and goes straight to the sales department. Sometimes it feels like he spends more time in the sales department than he does in the IT department.

Minhyuk is sitting at his desk when Jooheon gets there. He’s nervously jiggling his head and Jooheon has to wonder why he’s nervous. “Hey, Min,” he greets.

Minhyuk’s head snaps up. He smiles, or attempts to at least. “Hey, Jooheon. My important file is gone from my desktop, can you find it? It’s called ‘Final Project May’.”

Jooheon nods and Minhyuk gets up out of his seat, letting Jooheon take it instead.

“Thanks, Honey. I’m gonna go grab something from the print room.”

Before Jooheon can reply, Minhyuk is already gone. He decides not to question it and gets to work on finding Minhyuk’s missing file. It’s not an unusual request, Minhyuk manages to lose a lot of files, but they’re never too hard to find. One time Jooheon even found the file Minhyuk was looking for _on his desktop_ where he claimed it went missing from.

So, with this memory, Jooheon scans over Minhyuk’s desktop to see if it’s on there and Minhyuk just missed it. In typical Minhyuk fashion, most of the files are named with kaomojis or keyboard smashes. Jooheon has to wonder how Minhyuk finds anything he needs when he goes looking for files.

There’s something different on the screen, right in the centre, named differently to all the others. It’s called ‘Jooheon Open This’.

Jooheon looks around, trying to see if Minhyuk is around so he can ask him about it, but he’s nowhere to be seen.

So, he opens the file. It’s a word document with a letter typed up in it.

> dear jooheon
> 
> i’m too scared to tell u this in person and i considered emailing u but this seemed like the perfect confession since i always get u to fix my computer
> 
> i rly rly like u n think ur cute n would definitely love to hold ur hand so like if ur down wanna go on a cute ass date? n like be my boyfriend maybe?
> 
> this is scary why did i leave a letter like this i’m so dumb but i rly like u and u make me nervous and its ok if u don’t feel the same i just wanted to let u know
> 
> also there’s no missing file i just needed an excuse for u to find this
> 
> love a very scared minhyuk

Jooheon reads over the words again and again, making sure he’s reading them correctly. Minhyuk, his long-time crush, just confessed to him? And wants to be his boyfriend?

Jooheon feels his brain shut down and stop processing information.

There’s no way this is real. He’d never be this lucky.

He pinches himself, but it hurts, _really_ bad, so he’s definitely not dreaming.

Jooheon tries to calm his racing heart and will away the blush that he knows is on his face. He looks around for Minhyuk, but he’s still nowhere to be seen.

So, Jooheon gets to work planning his reply to Minhyuk.

 

* * *

 

Jooheon tapping his foot over and over again is starting to bother Changkyun, he can see it on the other’s face, but Jooheon is far too nervous to stop.

He hasn’t heard from Minhyuk since he was left to ‘fix’ his computer.

There’s the familiar ding signalling that he’s received an email and he clicks on the notification faster than he thinks he’s ever done before.

> To: lee.jooheon@starshipcompany.com  
>  From: lee.minhyuk@starshipcompany.com
> 
> Subject: i hate u
> 
> did u rly reorganise all the icons on my desktop to say yes i hate u so much (i don’t) and i’m so done with u (i’m not)
> 
> also are u free on friday at 6 for our date

And Jooheon smiles, happy, because it couldn’t have worked out better.

**Author's Note:**

> kudos & comments appreciated!
> 
> twitter: [@changkihyks](http://twitter.com/changkihyks/)


End file.
